Worcester State University students from the Tropical and Marine Ecology class are spending their spring break alongside scientists at the Mote Marine Center in the Florida Keys helping with their effort to save the coral reef.

"They're basically restoring reef by growing corals in the lab and we are going to be helping with all of that at every stage," Biology Professor Dr. Steven Oliver said. "The collection, the sectioning, the rearing and the replacement in the field. Our student's are going to help with all of that."

And Florida's more than 255 miles of coral reefs need it. NOAA estimates 25% of the fish in the ocean depend on healthy coral reefs and they also serve as barriers against storms. Oliver says climate change and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air are making ocean water more acidic. They are contributing factors which harm the marine ecosystem. 

"If that happens then you take away the base of a marine food web and the entire ecosystem can collapse."

Senior Molly Zastrow is a biology major and says seeing how the reefs are impacted by people really puts the issue into perspective.

"Especially for my generation, knowing how us as a whole are effecting the ecosystem and how we can help to change it and maybe not necessarily reverse it but help stop the corals from dying and changing the way we do thing in general so the ecosystems can just survive," Zastrow said.

Oliver says having the ability to go to Florida for the week allows them to offer courses in marine sciences different from what they'd be able to do locally. 

"It really increases the opportunity for students to experience another facet of biology they may then want to pursue down the road," Oliver said.